One of the problems when writing standards is that if you are too prescriptive, you stifle innovation, but I agree that there currently are some issues. For me, the biggest one is that because the test locations are fixed, you can add a great big hole in the shell elsewhere to reduce weight and increase ventilation. That's been fed into the discussion for the next review, and I also think a good compromise for off-centre impacts would be to up the requirement from 1/4 to 1/2 the crown requirement. Bear in mind that the crown requirement is pretty high - twice the protection compared to a cycling helmet for example.
I was reminded of this point when the mk2 sirocco was unveiled recently.
http://gripped.com/gear/new-2017-petzl-sirocco-helmet-is-light-and-strong/Petzl look to have used a rigid plastic
kippah to get it through the vertical penetration test rather than the conehead styling of the current version.
Aside from design fudges to meet standards, a helmet that looks like the Meteor but weighs little more than a bobble hat is a very attractive proposition. I'll almost certainly be getting one. Not black though.
